Bug 2482169 (CVE-2026-45895) - CVE-2026-45895 kernel: quota: fix livelock between quotactl and freeze_super
Summary: CVE-2026-45895 kernel: quota: fix livelock between quotactl and freeze_super
Keywords:
Status: NEW
Alias: CVE-2026-45895
Product: Security Response
Classification: Other
Component: vulnerability
Version: unspecified
Hardware: All
OS: Linux
low
low
Target Milestone: ---
Assignee: Product Security
QA Contact:
URL:
Whiteboard:
Depends On:
Blocks:
TreeView+ depends on / blocked
 
Reported: 2026-05-27 15:14 UTC by OSIDB Bzimport
Modified: 2026-05-28 02:44 UTC (History)
2 users (show)

Fixed In Version:
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Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-05-27 15:14:34 UTC
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

quota: fix livelock between quotactl and freeze_super

When a filesystem is frozen, quotactl_block() enters a retry loop
waiting for the filesystem to thaw. It acquires s_umount, checks the
freeze state, drops s_umount and uses sb_start_write() - sb_end_write()
pair to wait for the unfreeze.

However, this retry loop can trigger a livelock issue, specifically on
kernels with preemption disabled.

The mechanism is as follows:
1. freeze_super() sets SB_FREEZE_WRITE and calls sb_wait_write().
2. sb_wait_write() calls percpu_down_write(), which initiates
   synchronize_rcu().
3. Simultaneously, quotactl_block() spins in its retry loop, immediately
   executing the sb_start_write() - sb_end_write() pair.
4. Because the kernel is non-preemptible and the loop contains no
   scheduling points, quotactl_block() never yields the CPU. This
   prevents that CPU from reaching an RCU quiescent state.
5. synchronize_rcu() in the freezer thread waits indefinitely for the
   quotactl_block() CPU to report a quiescent state.
6. quotactl_block() spins indefinitely waiting for the freezer to
   advance, which it cannot do as it is blocked on the RCU sync.

This results in a hang of the freezer process and 100% CPU usage by the
quota process.

While this can occur intermittently on multi-core systems, it is
reliably reproducing on a node with the following script, running both
the freezer and the quota toggle on the same CPU:

  # mkfs.ext4 -O quota /dev/sda 2g && mkdir a_mount
  # mount /dev/sda -o quota,usrquota,grpquota a_mount
  # taskset -c 3 bash -c "while true; do xfs_freeze -f a_mount; \
    xfs_freeze -u a_mount; done" &
  # taskset -c 3 bash -c "while true; do quotaon a_mount; \
    quotaoff a_mount; done" &

Adding cond_resched() to the retry loop fixes the issue. It acts as an
RCU quiescent state, allowing synchronize_rcu() in percpu_down_write()
to complete.


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